A blood clot that forms in a blood vessel and remains there is called a thrombus. If a thrombus becomes large enough, for example, it may obstruct the flow of blood through the vessel and may thereby cause damage or even death to surrounding tissue.
Current methods to treat thrombus include the use of thrombolytic drugs and/or mechanical thrombectomy devices. Thrombolytic drugs may require multiple treatments to be effective, and they may only partially remove the clot. Thrombolytic drugs may also require significant time to take effect, which may become costly in intensive care settings. Thrombolytic drugs may also cause bleeding.
Current thrombectomy devices are typically difficult to use in small blood vessels (e.g., coronary vessels) due to the relatively large size of such devices. Currently available thrombectomy devices also tend to be relatively expensive. It is therefore desirable to provide a device suitable for removing a thrombus from small blood vessels (e.g., coronary arteries). Such a device would preferably be capable of providing distal embolism protection while maintaining downstream blood flow, and would preferably be cost-effective.